Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, ordered the immediate suspension of the formal transition process with the government of Gustavo Petro on Tuesday, accusing the outgoing president of orchestrating a coup d’état to remain in power. The rupture came hours after Petro declared that he did not recognise the legitimacy of the incoming administration and insisted, without presenting evidence, that the true winner of the June presidential runoff was his party’s candidate, Iván Cepeda. De la Espriella instructed his vice-president-elect to halt all joint meetings and, in a video address, called on the Colombian armed forces to “protect the Constitution and democracy” and to disobey any orders from Petro that contravene the constitutional order. The outgoing government responded by suspending its own participation in the transition, citing a lack of institutional respect, and filed a criminal complaint against a member of the president-elect’s team for defamation.

From Bogotá, the incoming administration framed the decision as a defence of the popular will, arguing that it could not sit at the table with a “band of coup-plotters and corrupt officials” that refuses to recognise the electoral result. De la Espriella’s designated ministers issued a joint statement calling for “constitutional resistance” and pledged to continue gathering information independently through what they termed an “anti-corruption transition.” The outgoing government, for its part, maintained that the transition is a legal obligation, not a political trial, and announced it would deliver management reports directly to the public. Petro, while stating he would hand over power at midnight on 6 August as mandated, continued to promote a narrative of algorithmic fraud orchestrated from abroad and confirmed that his political coalition would file a lawsuit to annul the election before the Council of State.

The breakdown of the transition process has drawn the armed forces into the political confrontation and raised concerns among regional observers about the stability of the handover. Electoral authorities and international observation missions have validated the results, which gave De la Espriella a narrow victory of less than one percentage point. The president-elect, a right-wing lawyer endorsed by former US President Donald Trump, has announced a hardline security agenda that includes the return of the riot police unit known as ESMAD and the creation of urban security blocs involving military veterans and business sectors, measures that the outgoing government describes as a return to state violence against civilians. Petro has called for mass demonstrations on 20 July, while Cepeda has declared “civil disobedience” against the incoming administration, further polarising the political climate.

With the formal transition frozen, the legal framework for the transfer of power remains in effect. The Comptroller General’s office has recognised De la Espriella’s election and will hold a technical meeting with the vice-president-elect to deliver fiscal diagnostics. The nullity suit is expected to be filed in the coming days, and the inauguration is scheduled for 7 August. The international community, including the United States, has not yet commented on the crisis, but the rupture marks the most severe breakdown of a presidential transition in Colombia in decades, with both sides mobilising institutional and street-level support ahead of the constitutional deadline.